Now ya have to look at the Pistons at that time. They had their future SF in Prince. They had all the offence they needed in Billups, R. Wallace, and Hamelton. What they didnt have was depth in the frontcourt. They had young Maxiell, who is 6'7, Ben Wallace, 6'8, trying to play C. They needed some height and help on defence. They didnt need a young, scoring SF when their entire team was built around defence. They thought at the time that he would not want to come off the bench and would mess up thier plan on defence. The team was in a rare position. They were a great team that was selecting high in the lottery. They figured that anyone they drafted was going to do fine, so, they drafted for a need instead of the best player avaliable. It is a huge mistake now, but when it happened, it didnt seem that bad. They figuered they had their C for the future and a good backup in the meantime.

To answer your question, they would have had some chemistry issues early on but would have been much better in the long run. IDK if they would have won more than 1 or 2 in 4 years though. Prince was, IMO, the X-Factor on that team that really put them over the edge.

unanized that's cause I like points...and so should the Pistons! Tashawn Prince terrific player, but everrrrryone knows to take the obvious versatile, maybe better than Lebron at the time, National Champion Carmelo Anthony if you have an oppourtunity to on draft night. Even if you really think its a problem and keep inn mind they didn't have Rasheed yet, you still pick him for trade value atleast. It is nuts, Melo is and was a franchise player which the Pistons have not had since Isiah, lolz its crazy. Darko isn't even close, it's worse than the Sam Bowie pick, Darko isn't even hurt. How long did it take him to get his first dunk, I'm not buying it and I wasn't buying it on draft night, were you?

Maxiell wasn't on the team till 2006 which was for only 26 games and he's been an overrated bench player really anyway. Prince played 42 games in 2002-03 the year before Carmello was drafted. Mehmet Okur was taken in the same draft as Prince and he played 72 games that year so they had some front court depth though he wasn't the same player he is with Utah.

Prince is a nice role player but never averaged even 15 ppg, played very well defensively against Kobe in the 04 Finals but the Pistons dominated that series. He has made it to 3 All-Nba 2nd team on defenses though, Carmello has made it to 3 All-Nba 3rd teams.

They might have had to trade someone but the Pistons were known to be a weak offensive team and Carmello would've changed that. I know defense and rebounding wins championships but so does 4th qtr scoring. Look at Kobe & Jordan they are known for hitting clutch shots at the end of games not stopping guys on D. Especially when you have Ben Wallace your already playing 4 on 5 a guy with Carmello's skill level would've been huge for them.

Adding a 24 ppg scorer who can get to the line definately would've added a couple more championships for them. If he didn't fit the system you could've always traded him for top picks and/or quality players in return for a franchise player who everyone knew was NBA ready out of college.

Teams seem to take a lot of chances on big men becaz of how rare it is to find a quality one but you can't pass over a sure thing in a guy like Carmello. Its happened before and continues to.

Dumars should get blame for this since he get credit for the positive moves he's made in Detroit. Jordan handed him Rip for Stackhouse he lucked out gettin Ben Wallace in the sign n trade for Grant Hill. The Rasheed Wallace trade was an obvious one and a steal the Pistons gave up late 1st round pick that ended up being Tony Allen or Delonte West & spare parts in a 3 team trade. However I do give him credit for drafting Prince, signing Billups, letting Wallace & Billups go at the right time as well. He's been good drafting players like Stuckey & this year especially with Summers and Daye who seem to have bright futures.

Are you Carmelo's cousin? Man, Darko at the time was a 7' wunderkind who wowed scouts, he was 17 years old, had a mean streak and had the same vertical as Carmelo. On a team filled with veterans and a promising young small forward prospect, plus at the time no Rasheed Wallace, you have much reason to draft Darko. You have to look at the circumstance, I am sure there were many people who thought Carmelo was better than Darko, but I think most GM's were killing for the guy at 2 (Darko). When you have a chance to grab a potentially dominant center or Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson, what is the right thing to do? Sure, in hind sight it was a horrible pick, but to me, Carmelo would mean no Rasheed and possibly zero rings. If they drafted Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh i would have seen it much more in Detroits favor than drafting Carmelo who would not have close to the impact that Tayshaun Prince gave that team on the defensive end, which was there identity. So, again, nice try.

Detroit messed up big time. Carmelo, Wade, or Bosh was the way to go. I remember that rookie season, they were competing for a title and I was thinking man if they don't win it all, Dumars is gonna look dumb because any one of those other guys could have pushed them over the top. But they did win and the pistons tried to spin it like we are gonna win now and when Darko develops we will continue this dominance into the future as well. But that was clearly a huge mistake.

Bosh was the perfect fit there he would have been good as a backup i think Melo would have helped but Prince was already really good and they could have front court depth from Bosh he would be an amazing a spark off the bench his first and then maybe take the starting job.